


Must Planets Align

by noblydonedonnanoble



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 11:16:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/noblydonedonnanoble





	Must Planets Align

                She’s just here because she wants her bedside table.

                That’s what you keep telling yourself. No matter how often you repeat the words, though, you still can’t help thinking that perhaps an actual conversation will start, and perhaps you can get her to discuss everything and perhaps she’ll decide that the bedside table can stay ‘cause perhaps she’ll decide that she wants to stay.

                Judging from her expression when you open the door, that’s not going to happen.

                You walk back to the bedroom together, and you even help her clear the table off while she’s going through the drawer and deciding what would be worth keeping and what she can trash.

                “Are you staying with Josephine?” you ask at last.

                “Yes. She’s pleased, because this is the most she’s seen of me in years.”

                You’re tempted to make a joke about how soon, it’s going to hit Josephine that Catherine is her daughter, and that she still will have all of those nasty habits that they argued about when Catherine lived at home. But you don’t want to make light of that because then the habits that bug you so much might come up, and you don’t want to get into a fight about petty nonsense right now.

                “Have rehearsals started yet for your play?”

                They started the day after she left. “Yeah. Yeah, about two weeks ago.”

                She catches on and her expression grows stiff. “Oh. Things going well?”

                “No, but hopefully this is one of those where we pull a good show out of nowhere at the last minute.”

                “Hopefully.” She falls silent, becomes far too interested in the bottle of lotion she just pulled out.

                “Is this it?”

                Catherine looks at you, startled. “Is what it?”

                Of course you don’t believe that she sincerely doesn’t know what you’re talking about, but you clarify anyway. “After this, are you going to do your best to disappear from my life forever?”

                “No, David—“

                “Maybe I’ll see you on the street or in the queue when we’re out on milk runs, and we’ll both just pretend that we have no knowledge of each other. Does that sound like the kind of thing that you’re hoping for?”

                She’s stopped in the middle of putting the drawer back into the table, and it’s hanging quite precariously but she’s entirely unaware because her gaze is fixed so intently on you. “Do you really think that’s what I want? Is that what you’ve been thinking of me this whole time, that I just want to forget about everything that’s happened between us?”

                You don’t answer, and instead take the drawer from her and put it back in. With a soft grunt, you lift the table, and you begin walking slowly across the room. As you stand in the doorway, you turn to her and say, “Well, c’mon then.”

                “David, you think that I want to act like four years of my life didn’t happen.” She’s not moving from her spot, and you put the table down in the hallway before turning to face her.

                “Well, actually it was almost _five_ years. It would have been five years…” You glance at the calendar hanging on your wall. “Three days ago.”

                “Five years,” she murmurs. Her voice is so tragic and it hurts to see her looking so pensive. “It’s been five whole years.”

                “Yes. So I’m sorry about all the time you won’t be getting back.”

                Catherine’s expression suddenly turns dark, and she steps around your bed to come nearer to you. “Stop that. You don’t understand and you just sound immature and things are so much more complicated than even I really understand and fucking hell you need to just grow up.”

                The words cut you deep. Maybe it’s something that she sees in your eyes, some indication of the defeat you’re feeling on the inside, which makes her realize exactly how harsh her words were. “Oh David, sweetie…” She goes to hug you, and your arms wind around her instinctively. It feels right, holding her like this.

                When she pulls away, you let out a slight whimper. “I miss you, Cath.” Because even though that’s not what you want to say, it’s easier than _I love you_.

                “I miss you too.”

                “But if you miss me, then why…”

                She smiles slightly, but it’s not a particularly comforting smile, because her eyes are sad. “That’s not quite how it works. I just… I couldn’t do this anymore.”

                “This?”

                “Yes. This.” Catherine gestures to the room around them. “Permanence. I can’t… I can’t do permanence. I can’t do forever.”

                “That’s… that’s okay. I don’t need a promise of forever.” You think of the ring that you buried in the back of the closet as you say it. 

                Catherine brushes your hair out of your eyes and kisses you softly. “Yes you do.” With a glance at her bedside table, she says, “You know, David, I don’t think I need this table after all. I’m sorry for bothering you for it.”

                You wave her off and say that it’s alright.

                That night, you disassemble her bedside table, attempting to be more delicate and strategic than Catherine was in disassembling you.


End file.
